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One-line summary: Query: Does anyone know of a good public list of the world’s greatest literature?
Of course, I mean based on an Objectivist standard.
If not, would you care to share your own list? Meanwhile, I will look up the old (pre-Member-Forum) thread that gave literature recommendations to add to this topic.
Thank you.
/sb
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Re: Jean Moroney Binswanger’s post 99596 of 8/15/16
One-line summary: Here’s my literature list
This list is heavily influenced by Objectivism, although some choices predate my familiarity with Rand, Peikoff, Binswanger, Schwartz, etc. Also, some choices reflect my entertainment industry interests, and some reflect simple sense-of-life choices rather than overt themes.
http://petejamison.com/id70.html
/sb
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Re: Pete Jamison’s post 114661 of 8/17/16
One-line summary: Thanks to Pete
Thank you, Pete, for sharing your list.
*sb
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Re: Jean Moroney Binswanger’s post 99596 of 8/15/16
One-line summary: Two more lists of literature
I remembered there is a list of great literature at Andrew Layman’s StrongBrains.com site:
http://strongbrains.com/literature.htm
Sylvia Sarno gave me permission to repost a list of hers from years ago:
From Sylvia Sarno
Below is a list of books I have greatly enjoyed. The list is in no particular order. Many of these books are classics, which undoubtedly many HBLers have read. I include them for completeness’ sake.
I recommend checking out http://www.classicreader.com, a great free site that has many novels and short stories online, to learn of more writers and to sample their works.
Also, there is a two-volume series called Masterplots by Magill that lists 500 major novels with a brief summary. I have learned of many good pieces through Volume 2, which is the only volume I have.
I second the comments on Terence Rattigan. He is my favorite playwright.
- Jack Schafer: Shane
- Sinclair Lewis: Arrowsmith
- Mabel Seely: all her books (detective fiction)
- Evelyn Anthony: Anne Boleyn, Rebel Princess, & other historical novels
- Daphne DuMaurier: Rebecca
- Jane Austen: all her novels
- Emily Bronte: Wuthering Heights
- Daniel Defoe: Robinson Crusoe
- Dickens: Tale of Two Cities, David Copperfield, Great Expectations
- Balzac
- Anthony Trollope: Barchester Towers, The warden (and others in this series)
- Irving Stone: The Agony and the Ecstasy (bio of Michelangelo, reads like a story)
- Benvenuto Cellini: Autobiography (reads like a great story)
/sb
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Re: Jean Moroney Binswanger’s post 114697 of 8/20/16
One-line summary: World literature is not all in English.
Missing from the lists so far –
Ayn Rand’s own favorites – Hugo, Sienkiewicz, Goethe (Harry, would you have a list?)
Classics (Homer, Petronius)
There is more, but I’m otherwise busied-out.
/sb
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Re: Jean Moroney Binswanger’s post 114697 of 8/20/16
One-line summary: Wuthering Heights is an excellent portrayal of human passion. Timeless.
Have you seen the movie with Tom Hardy as Heathcliff? He is much better than Laurence Olivier, at least in my opinion.
/sb
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Re: Adam Reed’s post 114699 of 8/21/16
One-line summary: The StrongBrains.com link given by Jean above does mention Homer and Hugo.
This site mentions Homer as well as several others from ancient Greece, some with recommended translations. Victor Hugo is also mentioned for The Man Who Laughs.
*sb
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Re: Jean Moroney Binswanger’s post 99596 of 8/15/16
One-line summary: A forgotten passport to great literature
To forum users:
If you have the time, a great book of literary criticism is William Shakespeare by Victor Hugo. It’s aesthetically great, but not philosophically, of course. You can also find recommendations in his Preface to Cromwell, his novels (in the form of metaphors), and his published letters.
I did my college thesis on Victor Hugo, so I might have an unusual motivation. Hugo saw all of his novels as a conversation with Homer and the great writers of the past, so he will mention their characters in his work quite often as dramatic contrasts.
Here’s one play that Victor Hugo recommended:
Moliere’s The Blunderer or the Counterplots [L’Etourdi ou les contretemps]
Read it and see if you agree with his esthetic judgment. If you do, then you might find it worthwhile to uncover what else Victor Hugo read and enjoyed, since he was one of the most virtuoso readers of the 19th century.
(I find lists to dim my current motivation for reading literature, but I’m sure I’ve read one or two books on them at various points of my life to get me back on the horse.) Never feel like you have to do a big chunk out of a list, since it will dim your motivation and stress you out about literature.
/sb
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Re: Jean Moroney Binswanger’s post 99596 of 8/15/16
One-line summary: For grades K-8
Lisa VanDamme’s list:
http://www.vandammeacademy.com/favorite-books.php
*sb
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Re: John McCulloch’s post 114963 of 9/13/16
One-line summary: Ms. VanDamme rolled out her new web site today
So the link to favorite books changed to this:
http://www.vandammeacademy.com/favorite-books-by-grade-level
*sb
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